Questionable

Summary:

Demons, otherwise mostly known as trolls live together on earth with humans. They have been around for a long time, but it is only recently that they’ve been allowed to be admitted to school. Only the ones with the best connections can get in. Or have a rather dedicated father known as Slick. Too bad Karkat hates school. Not to mention has to hide his blood color from his matesprit. What could possibly go wrong? Red Gamkar. Rated E for future chapters.

Notes:

Chapter Text

Karkat tried not to grumble under his breath for what probably would have been the hundredth time in the class period. Fuck, he hated school so much. He supposed he used to hate it more before a couple years ago, but that didn't mean he liked it now. No, not even close. He knew he wasn't the only one who hated school either. So at least in that the douchebags sitting around him were similar to him. That was about where the similarities ended. The bell finally went off and Karkat just shoved everything into his bag to get out of there quicker. Finally. God, if he had to sit through another fucking minute of the idiotic drabble of supposed 'education' he would fly off the handle. And the day was only half done. Fuck his life, every single second of it. At least it was lunch, which meant that at least it was a break from the teachers, but sadly not from the idiocy that was infected in this school like a plague.

Karkat didn't even bother getting food. Everything here was absolutely disgusting and not anything he was willing to stomach today, or most days for that matter. So he just went to the table he usually sat at, it was untaken seeing as most people were trying to get a good spot in the lunch lines. Not that it really mattered, there were plenty of tables around that were mostly unoccupied. He wasn't one of those sad fucks that had to have a specific table every single day. "Hey bro."

Karkat looked up to see Gamzee sit beside him, lazy smile on his face as per usual. "How can you possibly be so cheerful in this hell hole?"

Gamzee let out a honk before responding, "Ah, it's not that bad, Karbro. Besides, how can I be all up and upset?"

"Maybe because you're forced to attend this place they dare to try and say is actually helpful to our mental growth, the fucking idiotic asslicking fuckwads that they are, and forced us to sit in classes where we learn nothing but to regurgitate information like a fucking mother bird vomiting up breakfast, just how Gamzee? How can you fucking stand that and say 'it's not that bad'?"

"Haven't you been going to school longer than me?"

"Don't fucking remind me!" Karkat snapped.

"Remind you of what?" Karkat looked towards the voice.

"What's it matter to you? What, is all I say and hold dear up for personal debate now? God dammit John, you are such an invasive bastard. Mind your own goddamn business."

John just continued to smile that irritating smile of his. "Nice to see you too Karkat." He said as he sat down with a tray of food. Karkat just groaned in annoyance at the greeting. Soon others showed up, Rose came next, then Vriska, Eridan, Jade, and then finally Dave. It was a nightmare of course, just them talking over each other and the multiple conversation. But not only that, there were only five seats to a table. So, like every fucking day unless two people were missing, Gamzee ended up pulling Karkat into his lap, not without some choice words of course, and John decided to be a 'gentleman' and offer Vriska a seat on his lap, which she would usually have something to say about that, but would accept. Karkat could have barfed, everybody knew they were dating, but it was as if it was a cutesy kind of thing, like they enjoyed the closeness that it provided.

Karkat on the other hand, did not enjoy sitting on anybody's lap, no matter whose it was, so he would grumble under his breath non-stop, only taking a break if he needed to cuss somebody out. Which usually happened, he would always cuss out all of them by the time lunch was over. Eridan for trying to flirt with somebody - anyone really, it varied on the day. John for being an idiot and usually asking stupid questions, Gamzee for holding him so closely, Jade for saying how hard her AP classes were. Vriska for being over dramatic with her speech, or flirting with John, one or the other. Dave for trying to start something with Gamzee. They didn't really get along. They never did really, but last year it had just gotten worse, much to everyone's displeasure. But he still sat with them, probably because he was a lonely fuck with no other friends. Just like the rest of them.

Karkat was actually happy to hear the five minute bell go off. Even if it meant more classes, he could get out of this ridiculous half-embrace. He squirmed around again, but like usual, Gamzee didn't let go. "Hey, let go of me, would you?"

"Sure thing, best friend." Karkat rolled his eyes at the words, but Gamzee finally retracted his arms from around his waist. Karkat stood up and grabbed his bag, giving Gamzee a glare for good measure before starting off to his next class.

As always, after school, Karkat waited out front of the school by the only tree that was planted out front. He had been waiting there for nearly half an hour in the cold, but like fuck he was going to move inside and miss who he was waiting for. Several minutes ago, there had been plenty of students around talking to each other and hanging out, but now there was nobody, anybody who was left at school were probably hiding inside from the snow and cold. Karkat breathed out, watching his breath drift up, huddling deeper into his heavy jacket. He felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped, whipping around. He hadn't heard anybody approaching through the snow, so logically it could have only been one person. "Gamzee, you fuck!"

"Sorry Karbro, didn't mean to scare you." He said with a lazy smile, his eyes falling closed. Which he supposed showed how much Gamzee trusted him. They opened a few second later, but his smile remained.

"Like hell you didn't! And you made me wait forever here! You better have a good fucking reason, my fingers are about to fall off!"

"Yeah, sorry man, I got a detention for... Something, I don't even motherfucking remember now." Karkat made a show of rolling his eyes.

"Pretty short detention."

"Yeah, the teacher didn't really notice me leaving."

"You're just going to get more after school detention at that rate. We need to change our meet up place to someplace inside. But no, because you never remember whenever I change it and then you stand waiting out here forever! So one of us is bound to freeze. Then again, I think I'd prefer it to be you!" Karkat growled. Gamzee just shrugged. "Just... Let's go, I'm freezing out here." Karkat said, starting towards the parking lot, and thankfully Gamzee had enough of a mind to follow and then take the lead. Seeing as Karkat had no idea where the other parked his car.

After a couple minutes Karkat saw the car, surprisingly not the only one left in the parking lot. Probably just teachers who are staying after school either getting work done or watching other kids who had detention. Karkat walked around the car and opened the door, climbing in and throwing his backpack into the back before relaxing into the seat. As soon as the car was on, he turned the heat on full blast, even if it was currently blowing cold air instead of hot. Fucking thing took much too long to heat up. It would probably be warm just in time for them to arrive at Gamzee's house. Still, it was a comfortable and nice car, even if he hated the heating system.

Gamzee started driving. He was a slower driver than most, but he was safe at least, then again he'd probably had lots of years of driving behind him. All and all, Karkat felt safe enough to be sitting in the car. Karkat didn't have to mess with the radio at all, ever since the first time he'd messed with it it had stayed on the station he had chosen, and the same volume that he left it on when he left the car each day. So Gamzee obviously didn't care about what music was being played. Probably too drugged out of his mind to care. Slumping in the seat and crossing his arms over his chest, Karkat glared out the window at the outside world, the weather to blame for how cold he was. That and the jackass clown sitting next to him.

He honestly didn't know which to blame more. But he stayed silent for the trip to the house. His prediction that the heat wouldn't start working until a few minutes before they got there was correct. Gamzee's home was nice, it was an actual house, which living in the city they were in, that was hard to get. Mostly it was just apartments. Karkat had no idea when Gamzee must have bought it, but probably a long time ago, before the city tore most of them down in favor of apartment buildings. More space conservative or some shit. Humans certainly were horny fucks if they were having such a major space issue.

Karkat grabbed his bag he had so carelessly tossed into the back, pulling it onto his shoulder before following Gamzee inside. He also had a bag, but it only held his weapons, nothing else. It was a wonder he actually passed any classes since he couldn't remember any of the homework. Fucking bastard didn't even need to try. Karkat on the other hand, had huge issues with math, seeing as he never really needed to know more than the basics his entire life.

One of the reasons he came over was to do homework. Karkat walked into the house, closing the door behind him, and locking the door, while giving a pointed glare at Gamzee, who just smiled at him. Fucking bastard knew he was saying that he needed to lock the fucking door when he went out. Of course, it didn't matter if they were here. He was trying to be passive aggressive about it though, seeing as shouting about it several times in a row didn't do jack shit. In a week's time, he'd probably go back to yelling though. Like usual. Plopping down on the couch, Karkat grabbed out some homework and used his knees as a surface to start writing. Gamzee sat next to him, appearing to just space out.

"How would your own fucking lazy nature affect me from doing my homework? And in case you didn't catch it, that was rhetorical, it doesn't affect me whatsoever!" Karkat growled out before focusing on his homework, Gamzee just gave him a lazy smile before seeming to space out. He'd say a stupid ass comment at times. But, as much as Karkat loathed to admit, he enjoyed a presence beside him, and Gamzee he liked, it was better than going home right after school, thought that was what he was suppose to do. At least Gamzee would fucking listen whenever he ranted about a particular problem.

Finally, Karkat put his pencil down, looking at his cell phone's clock before flopping down onto the couch, head falling onto the other end of the couch of Gamzee. Karkat closed his eyes. Finally, he was done with school for the day, and could fucking forget about it. He hated going, he hated how he had to go. It made no sense. He was older than most the fucktards there, but oh no, it was to get more ‘cultural exchange’ going on, and better education all around. Like Karkat had ever needed to know all this fucking chemistry or math before now. Fucking school.

He felt Gamzee shift by his feet, but didn't pay any mind to it, just continuing to think about how awful school was. The teachers also seemed to try and force communication in the form of group discussions or projects. The only problem there was that everybody was a fucking idiot. The other trolls were at least less of an idiot then the humans. The humans hardly had any idea what they were talking about. It was most definitely the age difference that caused the said stupidity, but it still pissed Karkat off.

When he felt weight added to either side of him, he opened his eyes, looking up at Gamzee who was right over him, smiling down at him. Karkat narrowed his eyes, curling his lip back, sharpened teeth crammed shut. He only opened them slightly in order to hiss out, "What?"

"Man, you don't usually all up and close your eyes a lot." Yeah, that was because Karkat had trust issues, surprise surprise there. Closing your eyes put you in a state of momentary weakness. Couldn't see what the other was doing, if they were drawing a weapon or something.

Like hell he was going to drag his issues into the conversation though. "What of it? I'm exhausted, is that so fucking hard to believe? And what, you got a problem with it? I can close my eyes as much or little as I fucking want to!"

"Nah, I just think it's motherfucking cute."

Karkat snorted, looking away, not sure how to respond. He could handle insults, or Gamzee's weird ass comments usually, but compliments were outside his world of knowing how to respond. Other than a sharp insult back, and even then that didn't seem a good way to respond. Oh fuck it, "You're a fucking idiot is what you are, clown shitface." Not the best insult he'd come up with, not even close. It was hardly even an insult, really. Gamzee just seemed to smile more, and Karkat turned to give him a full on glare again. "Now will you get the fuck off of me?"

Gamzee shook his head wordlessly and leaned down further. Karkat let out a growl in irritation to his request being ignored. As soon as Gamzee's lips met his though, the growl died off quickly. Karkat relaxed a bit, knowing now what Gamzee wanted. He wrapped his arms around Gamzee's neck and pressed his lips more completely against Gamzee's own. He could feel the others smile broaden against his mouth. Gamzee seemed to shift into a more comfortable position, which of course made it so that he was pressed snugy against Karkat. Fucker probably did that on purpose. Karkat could tell that at least Gamzee wasn't pressing all of his weight down. For such a lanky guy, he sure did weigh more than expected.

He had gotten used to kissing Gamzee, he had always shied away at the beginning. He felt something against his lips and opened them, letting the tongue in, letting his eyes close again and just enjoy the kiss as he moved his own tongue towards Gamzee's, letting them brush and move together. It was a lazy kiss, but that was probably for the best. He should have known better, thinking it would last. He felt a hand slip into his hair, resting there, but Karkat knew it wouldn't stay there.

Once more he let out a growl, this time into Gamzee's mouth. Apparently Gamzee seemed to take that as a sign to continue, and a moment later Karkat felt a hand against his horn. He couldn't help the gasp he let out, even though he had been expecting it. Warmth traveled through his body and he shivered at the feeling. Gamzee put more into the kiss and rubbed at Karkat's small horn. Karkat tightened his claws into Gamzee's back, not caring if he ripped the fabric or not, just holding on tighter as pleasure coursed through him. He was aware that he was making sounds, but he tried to block that out, denying that he could be so embarrassing.

After an undetermined amount of time of this Karkat finally pulled back from the kiss, and Gamzee actually let him separate, probably for breath. Karkat sucked in breath quickly, but never seemed to regain it. He moved his hands to the front of Gamzee's shoulders, pushing up at him. Gamzee pulled his hand away from his horn thankfully and slowly sat up from Karkat, who didn't move for awhile, just panting, glaring up at Gamzee for putting him into such a position. Gamzee was just smiling happily at him. Karkat finally sat up grumpily, "Ass."

Gamzee wrapped his arms around Karkat and pulled the shorter to him. Karkat half-assed struggled, but put no real effort behind it, Gamzee didn't let go either, and after a time, he just slumped into Gamzee. Gamzee buried his nose into his neck though and nuzzled into it. Gamzee knew that they couldn't ever get far, Karkat didn't want the other to know his blood color. Karkat leaned his head back into Gamzee's shoulder, staring up at the ceiling. He kept trying to do red actions with him though, despite that. They both wouldn't budge on this. Gamzee would keep making out with him, and Karkat would pull away before it got too far. It hurt to think, but he knew that this was all temporary, not that he'd ever had that conversation with Gamzee, but he'd rather not ever.

Karkat got separated enough to grab the remote before Gamzee pulled him back. Karkat turned on the television and flipped through the channels before finding something that didn't look too overly stupid. They watched TV like that for a few hours before Karkat finally turned it off and nudged Gamzee, "Hey, don't you dare fall asleep. I need a ride home."

"Sure thing, bro." Gamzee said, but didn't release his hold.

"Hey numbskull, you’ve got let me go before we can go fucking anywhere!" Gamzee's arms fell away and Karkat stood up, putting away all his stuff and making sure he pocketed his phone before heading for the door, thankful Gamzee was waiting there instead of staying on the couch and in the need of more persuasion. They got back into the car and started towards Karkat's own house. It was silent all the way there. When they finally pulled up, Karkat grabbed his bag, but before he could leave, Gamzee spoke.

"Can I come in?"

"No." Karkat said without any hesitation, but looking at Gamzee the other actually looked dejected. Karkat rolled his eyes. "My dad would kill me if he saw you."

Gamzee nodded, though still looking upset. There wasn't anything Karkat could do though, if his father did discover Gamzee, he would have a fit. So he stepped out of the car without another word, closing the car door behind him. He walked to his apartment building, going inside and listening as Gamzee drove off. Shaking his head he took the elevator to his floor before walking to his apartment and after fishing for the keys in his book bag, he unlocked the door, stepped through before closing and locking it behind him.

He sighed as he looked around, empty. Of course. Well, sometimes he didn't work. Karkat went over to the couch, grabbing the blanket draped there and huddling under it as he turned on the television. He made himself some food during the commercial. When four in the morning rolled around he finally turned off the television and laid down on the couch, closing his eyes and falling asleep after some struggle.

Of course he was woken up by a shaking to his shoulder. Karkat blurrily opened his eyes, confused at first before hearing a familiar voice, "What was the point of buying the recuperacoon if you don't ever sleep in it?"

Karkat sat up, shooing away the hand before rubbing his eyes and looking up at his father. He was more human than most demons were, though he obviously wasn't, seeing as his skin was pitch black and eyes obviously not human either. "Shut up, maybe I like the couch! Ever think of that?"

"Watch your tone." Slick growled out, but stood up completely. Karkat pulled his phone out of his pocket, his alarm hadn't gone off, so it wasn't time to get ready for school, right? But oh no, it was five minutes until five. Fuck his life. Sighing, he got up, going towards his room to get fresh clothes for a shower.

Notes:

I know his name is Jack Noir too, but I wanted to use Spade Slick. Hope you all understand.

This is a gift for one of my best friends who I care for dearly. Hope you enjoy your Christmas present!

Notes:

Chapter Text

As every morning, his father drove him to school, thus starting another awful day of the same classes and classmates. It was once again a relief when lunch rolled around. Even if he once again he was sitting in Gamzee's lap. When John arrived he was talking to Vriska about his father, Karkat would have been happy to ignore him, but of course, since nobody in this group seemed to know how to mind their own business. It started with John saying, "My dad always makes all these baked goods, and forces me to eat them, it's awful. I mean, he is a pastry chef, but that doesn't mean he has to be one at home!"

Eridan snorted, "Your dad's a pastry chef? Hm, that's glubbing sad."

"How so?" John asked, frowning. Oh of course, because nobody else could bad mouth a parent. Well... Actually there was a lick of sense to that.

"Well, I don't mean to brag." Eridan said, smirking and sitting up proudly. Oh god. "But my ancestor is head of the military."

"Bull fucking shit." Karkat growled out.

"It's true. Why? Jealous?"

"As fucking if. You can go fuck yourself for all I care, fish dick." Karkat growled.

"Yeah Gamzee, you're high up in the spectrum, you must have something interesting." Vriska asked, smirking.

Karkat felt Gamzee shift under him, "Ah... Not fucking much."

"Oh come on Gam." Eridan said, "Can't just leave a bro hanging."

There was a long stretch of silence. Gamzee finally sighed out, seeming to have been waiting for the conversation to take another turn, but it didn't. "Shit man. I guess I can all up and motherfucking tell you. He's ah... The Grand Highblood."

Fuck. Karkat could feel himself tense at even the name. He had no idea that Gamzee was a direct descendant of The Grand Highblood. Sure, he knew Gamzee was a subjugglator, but this was just a bit more. "Wait... What's that mean?" John asked, looking lost.

Vriska laughed at that annoying laugh of hers, "He's pretty much the main troll in charge of culling insubordinate to her Condescendence, as well as lowbloods."

"Calm down Karkat. We all know you're low on the spectrum." Vriska smiled, "No reason to show how nervous you are."

"Nervous? I'm sorry, do I fucking look like I'm sweating to you? So Gamzee has some shit fuck of an ancestor, he's still the same fucked up clown-loving, sopor eating shit head he's always been. Fuck you for implying I'm low on the spectrum too! I could be higher than any of you, I could be the heir to her royal Condescendence for the fuck all you know. Ever think of that? No, of course not! Cause you've got spiderwebs for brains!"

"My money's that he's a rust blood." Eridan muttered, loud enough for everybody at the table to hear of course.

"Fuck you all." Karkat snarled out. "I'm not telling you, same as I've never done before now!"

"Alright Karkat, then who's your ancestor?" Vriska asked.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Karkat snapped.

"Well, you said you might be heir to the throne, so are you?"

"Nah, Karbro's said he's got a father." Gamzee put in helpfully.

"Fuck you for siding with them!" Karkat snarled out.

"Nah, I'm not taking sides man."

"Certainly seems like it."

"So? Who is it Karkat? Hmmm?" Vriska asked, still smirking.

"Fuck you, I'm not answering that. It's a stupid question and I'm not going to enter into a competition about whose parent is the best, so fuck all of you."

"Oh come on Karkat," John tried to - very poorly - convince. "Everybody else said." It was clear that they weren't going to drop this. But unlike Gamzee, he wasn't going to budge on this. He pushed at Gamzee's hands and the he actually got the message today and released Karkat. He grabbed his bag, glaring back at the table, who were all staring at him. He flipped them off for good measure before walking away. He could enjoy the lunch period away from these idiots. And it didn't seem like anybody was following him, thank god. Grumbling under his breath he searched for a place far away from the lunch hall to get some relative silence. Like hell he was going to say he had no idea who his ancestor was. True, he was younger than most at the table as far as trolls went, and usually younger trolls didn't know who their ancestors were. However, he didn't know because he'd been fucking abandoned, no lusus or anything. Probably thanks to his mutant blood color.

He could have kissed his grub self goodbye, but then his father had found him. Slick had taken him in and raised him, not telling anybody of Karkat until he was no longer a grub and his color no longer visible to the world. Hell, Karkat was sure that he didn't even say much even after that happened. His father was protective of him, and was the only person Karkat actually trusted with his life.

Back at the table everybody was watching where Karkat departed. "He's such a glubbing prick." Eridan huffed, crossing his arms.

"Well, wouldn't knowing his ancestor kind of hint at what his blood color is?" John questioned, not positive if that was how things worked or not.

"Yeah, but still!" Eridan huffed, crossing his arms, "He doesn't have to be that secretive about it. It's pretty obvious he's a rust blood."

"Why is it that blood matters so much to you demons?" Jade questioned, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"The proper term is troll." Eridan huffed.

"Besides, it shows how strong a troll is. It's just how things are, have been since anyone can remember." Vriska shrugged.

"Still seems racist to me." Jade muttered.

Vriska waved her off, "But you said Karkat has a father Gamzee? Like a human father? Not an ancestor?"

Gamzee looked back at her, "Man, I don't even motherfucking know if he's all up and human. But Karkat always says father, and not ancestor. I even tried to correct him, little motherfucker got all upset and said he meant what he said."

"Really? So it could be a troll, or a human, or something else for that matter. I doubt it's his lusus. He is old enough not to have a lusus right?" Gamzee nodded to confirm this and Vriska continued, "Have you met him Gamzee?"

"Nah sis, not even once."

"What if he's abusive?" Everybody turned to look at John. "What? You guys haven't considered it? What about the bruises he never talks about? Or that he wears long sweaters even in the spring? Nobody's met his dad, and he seems pretty tight lipped about it. I mean, I'm just saying..."

"He does seem to get hurt a lot." Eridan hummed, "But I always figured he'd just gave lip to the wrong people. I mean, that's possible too right?"

"So wait, culling and things is acceptable in your society but not abusive parents?" Dave questioned this time, who had been mostly just listening in.

"Not really, I mean fighting's fine, and if the decedent is a disgrace then culling isn't out of the question. But something like slow torture to one's own blood? Not really something acceptable." Eridan explained.

"I think this calls for an investigation!" Vriska said, "Karkat gets to school stupid early, but he does get a ride from his dad, right?"

"That's my understanding sis." Gamzee added in.

"Great, so we just have to get here even earlier to see who it is! Don't worry, I volunteer, and will inform all of you of the results." And with that, a plan was set.

The day passed normally, and by that Karkat meant as boring as watching crap fertilize grass. He was still in a bad mood from the question thrown at him, even while he was here sitting with Gamzee. It was a bit more nerve wracking, knowing the other was a direct descendant of The Grand Highblood. Even if logically he knew Gamzee hadn't changed at all since he learned the information, it still made Karkat nervous. He wanted to talk about it, but at the same time he wanted to just sweep it under the rug and forget about it completely.

Fortunately, he didn't have to reach a decision right then because Gamzee spoke, "Hey Karbro, what's your dad like?"

Karkat rolled his eyes, looking to the side to glare at Gamzee. "If this is about the conversation earlier, and about what blood color I am, then you can just forget it."

"Nah man, I mean what's he motherfucking like? Is he nice or what?"

Oh. That was okay, he guessed, he didn't see anything wrong with it. "I wouldn't exactly call him nice." Karkat said, looking back at the homework he'd barely been paying attention to, and missing Gamzee's slight frown, "But hey, he's family." And he did care about Karkat, even if he, like Karkat, didn't do a good job of showing it, Karkat still knew. "He has this unhealthy obsessions with knives, and well fuck, I don't know, he's a lot of things, but it's hard to describe him."

"It's okay Karbro, I get it."

"You I can describe perfectly well, just have to say drugged up on sopor juggalo clown asshole and people instantly know who I'm talking about." Gamzee let out a honk behind him, Karkat had no idea what it meant, seeing as Gamzee used honks to express a lot of emotions. "Yeah yeah, honk to you too fuckass."

"You know I've been trying to motherfucking quit." Gamzee muttered.

Karkat sighed, great, seemed he was hurt. "I know." Wasn’t surprising he’d ended up hurting the other with his words. Damnit. Still, there had been more and more clarity to Gamzee's eyes and actions. So clearly he was actually somewhat succeeding with quitting.

Gamzee went silent after that, probably in his own fucked up world again. When Karkat was done with his homework, he willingly crawled into Gamzee's lap, much to the happiness of the other.

The next day was Friday, which was almost the worst day of the week, everybody was excited and making plans and all that shit, as if forgetting that they had one more day to trudge through before the weekend could happen. But oh fucking no, nobody seemed to remember that. Karkat glared at the school as it came into view. He never asked his father if he could skip a day, he knew that Slick had to pull a lot of strings to get him into this school, the first school that had accepted trolls as students. Of course because of that, it was mostly trolls of importance that got in, or could pay the hefty price to enroll.

The car stopped at its usual place, and Karkat's eyes narrowed further as he saw Vriska walking casually closer. This could mean disaster. Grabbing his backpack, he opened the door. Vriska had picked up her pace, probably seeing that he was hurrying. He slammed the door shut behind him, but Vriska was right in front of him and his dad wasn't leaving, probably worried about such a high blooded troll being so close to him.

"Hey Karkat." She said, drawing out the 'a' as she normally did, her eyes shifted though to look inside the car.

"What are you doing here this early?"

"I had to take the subway and I didn't want to be surrounded by a bunch of humans, so I took an early one."

"Don't you have a car?"

"It broke." Karkat narrowed his eyes, not sure if he believed her story or not, he hadn't seen her car anywhere. So it was possible. Then of course, he heard a car door open and close and dread filled him. This was not good. Soon his dad came into view.

"Who's this?" He asked, looking at Vriska. Fuckity fuck fuck. That's all there really was to say on the matter, if he said nobody then Slick would think that Vriska was pushing him around. If he said a friend, well that cause a whole new set of problems. So Karkat didn't say anything.

"My name's Vriska." She said, looking at Slick. He grunted, not seeming too pleased with the situation. Well at least Karkat wasn't the only one.

This could go downhill quickly, and the last thing Karkat wanted was for Vriska and his father to fight. "Dad come on, I'll see you at home, can you just go?" Slick narrowed his eyes at him, and for a second Karkat worried that his father wouldn't catch how desperate he was and would stay, but he gave a curt nod.

"But don't think you're getting out of it." Slick said, 'it' probably referring to the talk they would have to have later. Karkat nodded, easily accepting these terms. Thankfully Slick retreated and got back into the car and with one last glance at Karkat, drove away.

Once he was gone there was some time of silence. Karkat started walking towards the school. "So, dad huh?"

"Oh my god, shut the fuck up." Karkat growled out, "For one it is not even you god damn business who my father is, let alone what he is, and if you have anything to say about it you can just fuck off. And another thing-"

"I only said like two words Karkat, calm down." Vriska snickered.

"It was the context behind the words I was referring to!" Karkat snapped. Vriska kept snickering at him, and finally Karkat got so sick of it he went and sat outside his first classroom door instead of the cafeteria where he normally did. Vriska however waited in the cafeteria where everybody usually met in the morning. She had purposely pissed Karkat off so he would go storming off - wasn't that hard really - and now waited to share the news with everybody.

When most were there - Dave usually showed up late - Vriska informed everybody of what Karkat's father was. A much lesser demon, below even the lowest troll. "So wait... What does that mean?" John asked. "If he's a lesser demon he can't hurt Karkat, right?"

"Not necessarily. They can do damage, especially if Karkat's low on the spectrum." Vriska clarified. "I'm not really sure what I think of him though. If he's abusive or not."

"Karbro said that his father liked knives a lot. And I don't know, some things he said..." Gamzee trailed off. They all contemplated that for a moment.

"Well I mean, it doesn't mean much, right?" Eridan said, "I mean, everybody has a weapon they like... So..." They all were silent before deciding they needed more proof before continuing on the discuss plans for the weekends.

Notes:

I'm not editing these. If you see any mistakes, please let me know! I'm just trying to get them up for the time being.

Notes:

Chapter Text

The weekend came and went. Karkat sighed as he stared at his homework. What an awful weekend it had been, he supposed he only had himself to blame for that. He could have hung out with some of his friends or something, but oh no, of course not. He slammed his pencil down once he was done with the last problem, moving to lean against the back of couch. Gamzee looked at him, giving a lazy smile and scooting closer, wrapping his arms around him. Again, Karkat showed real sign of idiocy because he didn't even think about the gesture, it always happened so why would he? He should have thought of why it was such a bad idea. At lunch, Gamzee had held him just above the hips, but now his arms were higher. And as soon as Karkat felt his arm brush against his left side, he let out an embarrassingly loud yelp, mostly at having forgotten. Gamzee instantly drew back, looking confused. Karkat held his side carefully, trying to make the sudden ache dissipate. "You okay bro?"

"Do I look fucking okay? That's a stupid fucking question, even by your standards!" Karkat snapped at Gamzee, his pain filling his words with a certain heat they usually lacked around Gamzee, and he regretted that. Gamzee however, seemed not to focus on that.

"What happened?" Gamzee questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

Karkat then realized he couldn't really tell Gamzee the entire truth, if even any part of it. Not that he would care if Gamzee of all people knew, but... It just felt like he'd betray his father somehow by telling. After all, it was related to his work, and he hated people knowing what he did outside of those he worked with. Shit. Now what? Karkat sighed, running a hand through his hair, "It's nothing, forget about it."

"We've gone over this Gamzee, I'm not letting you see my blood color, so forget it."

"You're bleeding?"

"I mean my grub scars you insufferable prick! They're the same color as my blood, in case you've forgotten! Which I don't know how since you're a fucking troll yourself. But if anybody would be oblivious to their own fucking body, it would probably be you! Another thing, I am not some idiotic grub who doesn't know how to take care of myself! There are fucking things called bandages you use Gamzee, my fucking god!"

"So... You are bleeding? If you had to go and motherfucking bandage it."

Dammit when did Gamzee become so observant? And he wasn’t being distracted by some of Karkat’s words, like he had hoped. "Why are you questioning me about this? The fuck does it matter to you?"

Karkat huffed, looking away, he couldn't argue against that, well he could, but not without hurting Gamzee and breaking off their relationship prematurely. "Fine, whatever. I got cut. Happy? Will you fucking drop it already?"

"How'd that happen?"

"Nope, not answering anymore of your stupid, invasive as fuck questions! Just leave me the fuck alone about it." Gamzee went silent, and it was awkward for awhile before Karkat finally got up the nerve to move and turn on the television. It was not silent then, but still awkward. Karkat had to wonder why Gamzee had to ask him so many questions, usually he dropped things quickly, and he hadn't looked happy either. Just what was going on? Karkat moved to lay down, resting his head into Gamzee's lap, careful of his side. He felt Gamzee relax a bit and felt a hand against his cheek, rubbing lightly. Karkat didn't even notice when he closed his eyes and fell easily asleep.

When he woke up, he was groggily, blinking his eyes open. It was dark, and there was something oddly shaped under his head, definitely not a pillow. Sitting up a bit, he felt somebody move. Sitting completely on what seemed a couch, Karkat rubbed at his eyes, looking up to see Gamzee smiling at him, also looking a bit groggy, as if he'd woken up himself recently.

It was really dark. Panic flew through him. He'd fallen asleep. "Fuck, what time is it?" Karkat asked, pulling his phone from his pocket. It was four fifty. Shit, shit, shit! It took at least half an hour to get to his house from Gamzee's, and his father would be home by then, if he wasn't already. "Shit! Fuck my life. Gamzee, I need a ride, so wake up!"

"Sure thing man." Gamzee said slowly, but stood up. Karkat just hoped that the other didn't drive crappily while he was sleepy, he sort of doubted it, considering Gamzee usually drove while drugged out of his mind, a bit of grogginess shouldn't be too bad. Thankfully he was right. Gamzee dropped him off and waved at him as he got out of the car. Karkat just grunted and headed inside, hoping against hope that his father wasn't home yet.

He got to his floor and went through the process of unlocking the door, closing it behind him and locking it again. The house was dark. A good sign. His eyes weren't adjusted from the bright hallway outside yet, and decided to turn on the lights. He froze up when he saw his father sitting on the couch, watching him through slitted eyes. He was so fucked. "Karkat. We need to talk." How he hated those words, they never held anything good. Karkat dropped his backpack, treading over to stand in front of the couch. Of course Slick stood and Karkat got the message, sitting on the couch.

He glared up at his father, "What?"

"Don't take that tone. You know perfectly fucking well what. Where were you?" Karkat pressed his lips together tightly, like fuck he was going to say he was over at another trolls house, and an indigo blood at that. Who happened to be the descendant of the Grand Highblood. Fuck that idea to the lowest pit of hell. "Were you out again?"

"What the fuck do you mean by that? What? I can't go outside."

"You know that's not what I was talking about." There was silence for awhile. "Droog called me and told me where you were Sunday night."

"What? He did what? That jackass!"

"He did the right thing calling me! What were you doing there?"

"Helping! What else the fuck would I be doing! I'm not some wiggler! I wasn't just dicking around for the fuck of it!"

"You don't help Droog out! You stay home and out of trouble."

"Oh, that's rich coming from you." Karkat growled.

"Yes, coming from me! You don't help me with my job, how many times have I had to fucking say that Karkat? And you never listen! You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Well then it'd be my fucking choice! I'm not helpless, I can help if I want!"

"No you can't! I'm in charge here, and I'm telling you that you can't help." Karkat gnashed his teeth together, growling out, his father just continued glaring at him, and there was silence awhile, "Did you get hurt?"

"What do you care?"

"Don't start with that bullshit."

Karkat let out another growl before it slowly died and he looked away, moving his hand to touch just above his injury. It still hurt him a hell of a lot. Hell, breathing even hurt. It seemed to be worse since Gamzee touched it though.

"Let me look." Karkat considered arguing, but with his father it was a lost cause, and he knew the other wouldn't drop it until he had made sure it wasn't serious. Karkat moved his hand away and pulled his shirt up a bit to show the bandaged area. Slick sat down on his right side, carefully peeling back the bandage. Karkat winced at that, it hurt, but it wasn't unbearable.

Slick inspected the injury carefully before Karkat felt a hand against his skin near the injury and a finger touch it. He yowled, feeling worse than when it had first cut him, it turned into a loud growl, "Don't touch it!"

"You're a fucking idiot. You left some glass in it."

Karkat felt shame fill him. He had hurried and bandaged it so that he didn't have to look at the hideous blood color, but he had never been cut with glass before. And he had thought it had been a clean cut. Well, that explained why it hurt so much. "Oh." He muttered, still feeling like a fucking idiot for not know the essentials of treating himself apparently.

"Take your shirt off, I'll be right back." His father said, taking off the bandage completely and walking away. It was a challenge to get the shirt off, but he finally did, with only a couple small and quiet grunts of pain. Slick came back with a pair of tweezers, disinfectant, and some fresh bandages in hand. He sat on the couch again. The next fifteen minutes were painful, Slick looking for glass shards and pulling them out hurt like fuck. Then of course came the disinfectant, Karkat gripped his shirt in his lap and gritting his teeth together painfully until the stinging died. The bandages felt like nothing after that. Karkat stayed silent through the procedure, though in a bad mood after. "Still think you should be going out?" His father growled out.

"Shut up." Karkat muttered, standing up and walking towards his room.

"Where are you going?"

"To get ready for school!" Karkat snapped. His father didn't question any more than that.

School was as awful as usual, but his side at least felt much better. Gamzee was still obviously cautious about wrapping his arms around Karkat. Nobody seemed to notice Gamzee's slight hesitation. They all just continued droning on about random, idiotic and pointless nonsense. Karkat was sure to snap at some of them before sinking back into quiet irritation for a time before snapping at somebody else.

And so the day went on as usual from there. Of course, Karkat found himself huddling in his jacket but still shivering at the cold despite that. It seemed his jacket was doing absolutely nothing to keep out the cold. Fuck Gamzee, fuck him to the lowest pit of hell. Shivering again at a gust of wind that tore at him, he found the will to pull out his phone. It was dark, though that didn't mean much right? It got dark earlier and earlier it seemed. Still, he saw he had been waiting on Gamzee for two hours now.

Shoving his phone angrily into his pocket, he stomped over to the school doors, tugging at them, only to find that they wouldn't budge. He knew that they kicked everybody out before closing the school down, and from what he heard they did a very thorough job to make sure nobody was inside when that happened. So where was Gamzee?

Shivering again, he glared angrily and turned, kicking angrily at the snow. He then started walking. Screw Gamzee, he was going home. Where it was warm and he could curl up under a blanket. Screw walking around in circles waiting for somebody who obviously zoned out so much he forgot to pick a certain somebody up. That certain somebody being a now very pissed off Karkat. He growled under his breath, letting out an insult.

Soon he was leaning against the bus stop, still shivering and staring down at his boots, still grumbling. After about fifteen minutes he checked the bus schedule in confusion. After another ten minutes, Karkat concluded that the buses were on strike again. Could never fucking depend on them. He knew he didn't have enough money for the subway. Groaning, he resigned himself to walking home. It was either that or go back to school and hoping Gamzee would show up, which was unlikely at that point.

Taking a deep breath, he started walking. The problem was that he was a long way from home, and he would either have to take another two hour detour or go through some dangerous part of the city without any weapon. Narrowing his eyes, he didn't want to stay out in the cold that long, especially since it was only going to get colder. He didn't know if it was possible for trolls to freeze to death, but he didn't want to find out.

He would like to see somebody try and pick a fight with him when he was in this bad of mood, sickles or not. He doubted anybody would. Doubtful anybody knew about him here, that would be something. So he was relatively safe at least. Maybe if a human was stupid enough to approach him, but trolls were generally stronger than humans, and Karkat had gotten into plenty of fights before, he could handle himself alright.

Fuck Gamzee, this was all his fault. The only consolation was that it wasn't raining, and probably wouldn't unless it was freezing rain. Wouldn't that be just his fucking luck? Walking along, he noticed a couple lesser demons, like his father, except they were green. They were all lesser demons, with only one big difference. Karkat looked away when they spotted him, telling himself that there was no way they'd recognize him. Plus they weren't known for starting fights with trolls, who were higher up than them anyway, still it wasn't unheard of. Hopefully they assumed that he was armed and would leave him the fuck alone.

After a few feet he realized that that wasn't going to happen, he could hear a couple sets of footsteps crunching in the snow behind him. Nobody was following him before, and he sure as fuck didn't hear anybody leave any nearby buildings that would just be happening to be walking behind him. Chances were, it was those green bastards. Today just wasn't his day it seemed.

Continuing to walk, Karkat knew they wouldn't start anything in the open. Then again, he couldn't just lead them home, and these guys didn't give up easy so going into a crowded place wasn't worth shit. They'd just wait outside. This area was also their territory, so people here were probably more likely to turn a blind eye for one reason or another. Going to a police station was something for humans, trolls had their own governing system that had nothing to do with humans, it was completely separate to the point Karkat would find as much shelter there as a crowded store.

So no matter what, he was pretty much in for a fight. Fucking. Perfect. Might as well get this over with then, it shouldn't be too hard to find a secluded place to fight these idiots. He walked down an alley, taking many twists and turns to find a place suitable for a fight. However, it wasn't long before he was stopped dead by the sight of several lesser demons. Shit. Of course, this was their territory, there was bound to be a bunch of them around. He looked behind him to see if he could backtrack at least to another alley and escape. Of course, his luck was never that good, they were closing in on him. Well, while he had no way out, he slid his bookbag off his shoulder and promptly put his back to the wall. No need to have people come at him from behind, he would have enough shit to deal with, fighting those who were facing him.

Of course they had him surrounded soon. Like hell he wasn't going to go down fighting. Still, he knew this was probably the end, he was still hurt from the last fight he was in, and even if he was stronger than any lesser demons, he was hopelessly outnumbered, with no weapon. Which obviously was not the same for these green assholes. Still, he'd give them hell before they managed to kill him.

Why wasn't he dead yet? He was sore all over and his head was no exception, it ached. Right, he'd gotten the shit beat outta him. But if they knew who he was, why hadn't they killed him? Lifting his head, he noted his uncomfortable position, hardly noticeable due to the rest of the pain, especially his already hurt side. It felt like his blood had soaked through too. Fucking perfect. Well, at least with the black shirt they shouldn't know what his blood color was. He was pathetic, he couldn't even deal that much damage to them, not enough to make a difference, that was for sure. Pushing the self-loathing thoughts aside for another time, he looked around himself. He was in a small room, chained to a chair obviously, metal by the feel of it. The room was unimpressive, though covered in mostly red blood. They probably took a lot of lesser demons like his dad here to have some ‘fun’. Sick bastards. There were a few of the said bastards in the room, and one opened up a metal door and was muttering something to the other side.

Everybody knew that green and black lesser demons were always at each other's throats, and Karkat had willingly involved himself with that. Still, this whole situation just sucked major ass. He didn't know what they wanted from him, probably just torture for pleasure. Lesser demons usually enjoyed that sort of thing. Great, he would be tortured till he was dead. The perfect ending to his miserable fucked up life. Still, he'd never fucked up this bad before. An all new, all time low. Then somebody came in. Just another green bastard. He was focusing on Karkat though, so torture would probably start sooner rather than later. He was surprisingly calm considering the situation. Then again, he always knew he'd suffer an awful death, though he assumed it would be because his blood color, not assisting his father with petty tasks.

Blinking a moment, he was confused at the sight of the bastard on the phone. Oh sure, the man had other things to deal with. Torturing and killing Karkat obviously wasn't the top of his agenda today. Glaring at the lesser demon, he spoke to whoever was on the phone, "Don't believe me huh? It's the truth." He said, and Karkat didn't get to sit fuming for long as he approached. Karkat tugged at the chains, but of course it did little good. "Here, I'll put him on." Karkat froze in confusion as the phone was placed to his ear. There was silence on the other line. What was going on? His confusion must have been clear because the green asshole spoke, "Say hi to your dad, kid."

Karkat realized that all of this, his being alive, them keeping him chained to this chair. He hadn't been a target, this was all to lure his dad into a trap. Well fuck them. He kept his lips sealed, glaring at the man. He wasn't going to be a part in helping his father die as well as himself. He was already screwed, no reason to cause more death from his own fuck ups. This did not please the green fuckface obviously, and the phone was still silent, though he could tell there was someone on the other line. He wouldn't speak. His determination must have shown through, because a knife was pulled. Usually they all had weird individualized weapons, but that didn't mean they couldn't handle a knife. It was pretty basic. Karkat still didn't move, eyes still narrowed with determination.

Of course that all flew out the goddamn window as the knife came down and imbedded into his leg. He of course screamed, it was completely embedded into his leg and it hurt like a son of a bitch. Of course then he knew that his father knew it was him, and the yell of 'Karkat!' from his father only proved that. The phone pulled away, but Karkat was pissed, "You fucking bastard! I'll make sure I kill you! In fact, let me go and fight me like a real demon, you low fuck! I'll make sure-" His words turned into another scream as the knife was pulled out rather unpleasantly. The pain had been reduced a bit until it was pulled out. He squeezed his eyes shut tight to prevent any tears. He was not going to cry in front of these bastards.

"And a mutant blood at that." The fucker who was now at the top of Karkat's to kill list tisked. It only angered Karkat more and he looked up to glare, growling and about to continue with his rant, but the man was already out the door. Wait… Had that been Karkat's phone? Bastard. Still, that explained how he got his father's number. He'd screwed up this time, that was for sure, hanging his head, he let the self-hatred wash over him.

If he thought he had felt like shit when he first woke up, it was absolutely nothing compared to now, what had to be at least a day later. How he hadn't bleed to death by now was probably some cruel trick of luck. He didn't even want to think about some of the things they had done, all the pain. He would be flinching at the memories for a long time when he recalled them, he knew that. Of course, that was if he lived through this. He was tired, tired from the pain, the screaming, and yes, even the crying. He was pathetic. He knew this was how it would end, but he still couldn't handle the pain. How could he?

Everytime he breathed it felt like he was inhaling glass and he would probably be crying at just that if it wasn't for the fact he couldn't cry anymore, he was just out of tears. He was no longer guarded, happy fucking day, but he was so weak and cut up that he didn't need to be. He couldn't crawl out the door without passing out from pain mainly. He didn't want to even partake in the small movement of breathing. So he was staying as still as possible, listening to the occasional drips of blood. When the door opened he couldn't help but flinch, and he had to bite back a whimper at the pain that caused.

"Karkat!" The familiar voice surprised him, and he looked up as his father came into the room, Karkat felt his eyes itch, relief that his father was alive and actually here, he felt so close to crying, more so than before, but nothing came. Slick walked behind him and took some time undoing the chains. He was drenched in blood, but Karkat hadn't seen him limping or favoring anything, so none of it was his. It was a pretty common sight, but unlike other times, Karkat felt happy seeing him covered in blood. That meant the bastards paid. "I'll have to move you." Oh god, that was true. Still, Karkat didn't know if he could handle the pain of that. What was he a wiggler? He'd dealt with worse in the last twenty four hours, and if it meant getting out of here, then he should be happy moving, even if that meant walking. He hoped it didn't mean walking, he'd probably crumple under his injured legs.

But as soon as the chains were removed, Slick moved beside him, clearly intending to pick him up. At this point, Karkat was beyond pride, he just wanted to get out of this place. If that meant his father carrying him, whatever, he'd bitch about it later. Slick did pick him up, and it still hurt, a lot. Karkat bit his lip and breathed heavily through his nose. Still, shifting made things worse. He felt wounds that were healing open again and felt blood moving in different paths down his body. If possible, he felt even more exhausted than before. The only thing that probably kept him conscious was the pain, and even then he doubted that would be a deterrent for long.

They walked past the bodies of many lesser demons, both green and black, but thankfully it was mostly green. As soon as they walked out the front door, the wind stinging his injuries and the air almost feeling suffocating, he did pass out. Before he did pass out though, he knew that his father would take care of his injuries before he bleed to death. He also knew he was in for one hell of a scolding later.

Notes:

A cliff hanger! I'll try to do one more chapter today. Might not make it.